Beyer / Hagen Rigged Lake Reno Event
Thorough Investigation Conducted
After completing
interviews with the top 3 placing teams, tournament officials have
determined that the Lake Reno Qualifier was rigged right from the start –
live bait rigged that is!
The week leading into
the Lake Reno Qualifier was consistently hot and humid – conditions which
can often push walleyes into the deepest water available to them on an
otherwise relatively shallow prairie basin lake. Fishing would be tough
with water temperatures hovering in the high 70°
range coupled with high, clear skies and a 25 mph south wind pushing
across the windswept lake, which had experienced a mayfly hatch about 12
days prior to the tournament. Walleyes caught during the pre-fishing
period were still coughing up mayflies indicating that they were well fed
and probably wouldn’t chase angler’s baits very far. When these
conditions occur, there are two drastically different tactics that will
oftentimes pro-duce for walleye anglers. One can opt for the fast
presentation, covering lots of water trying to induce a reaction type
strike from sulking walleyes, or one can take the opposite approach and
slow down and keep a bait in front of a satisfied walleye for as long as
possible trying to entice a leisurely strike. The top three teams all
opted for a slower live bait presentation.
Kevin Beyer, a recent
transplant to Alexandria from Morris and partner Rick “Tank” Hagen from
Morris rigged the event to the tune of $2,500.00 and the first place
plaques with 5 fish weighing in at 15.51 lbs. Kevin and Tank said that
they really didn’t have anything going during the pre-fish period but that
they had fished the lake many times in the past. Going in the opposite
direction of easy, Beyer and Hagen back trolled into the southerly wind
with their 80 hp Yamaha 4 stroke along a deep weedline out in front of the
tournament headquarters at the Green Iquana on the northeast end of the
lake. With the bilge pump running continuously, the pair would take turns
running the motor and getting drenched, all the while motoring from 13’
out into 17’ while staying in close proximity to the well defined weedline.
Using lindy rigs consisting of 1/4 oz sinkers, chartreuse hooks on 6’ – 7’
leaders, and nightcrawlers, Beyer and Hagen would have all five of their
tournament legal fish by 11:00am. One short fish would succumb to the
boat after that, but they would have to settle for one short of a six fish
limit. Even with the lack of a “Big Fish” in their basket, their five
fish would average over 3 lbs apiece, enough to claim 1st place
by just over 3/10ths of a pound.
John Artz and Donovan
Reynolds from Lakeville and Apple Valley would land in 2nd
place after holding the 1st place spot during the weigh-in for
a short time. Although they had one of only three 6 fish tournament
limits, they would come up just shy of the winning weight. Artz and
Reynolds basket would weigh 15.20 lbs, good enough for the 2nd
place plaques and a check for $1,500.00. Long lining lindy rigs in the
main basin of the lake with 3/8 oz sinkers and green hooks with a green
bead on 6 lb snells, Artz and Reynolds would drift along at .8 mph by
employing 2 Drift Control Sea Anchors. Using leeches the pair would put
three legal walleyes in the boat in the first ˝ hour of the day and had
five by 9:30am. Later in the day they would upgrade one fish from a 15 ˝”
to a 18 ˝”. Artz and Reynolds said that they were drifting a little
faster, at 1 mph during pre-fishing, and that that had produced a little
larger fish. A slight adjustment on speed during tournament day could
have made the difference they needed to win.
Capturing third place
with a six fish limit tipping the scale at 12.14 lbs were Tom Sather and
Curt Anderson from Minnetonka and Crystal. Also drifting the main basin,
Sather and Anderson claimed the 3rd place plaques and a
$1,250.00 check by utilizing 3 oz bottom bouncers pulling #3 and #4
chartreuse and firetiger patterned Colorado spinner blades tipped with a
crawler. While varying their speed from 1 to 1.8 mph while crossing the
main basin going from 24’ into 22’ of water, Sather and Anderson would
have five fish in the livewell by 11:00am and would have their last one by
1:00pm. That left them with 2 hours to upgrade a fish or two but it
seemed as though the bite was done by noon.
Big Fish honors for
the event would go to Gary Sorenson and Kim Miller from Storden with a
5.84 lber that measured 26 ˝ inches. Gary said “Our
plan, because of the hot weather was to spend the day trying for big fish
in deep water, we spent our whole day fishing mainly from 25 to 27ft. We
had only boated one walleye rigging with crawlers or leeches, a small fish
a little over 14 inches long, so at 1:30 we decided to troll bottom
bouncers with spinners and crawlers. Within 20 minutes I caught the big
fish in 27' of water. That ended up being the last fish we caught.”
It may have been the only fish they caught all day but it was worth
$1,300.00 and a pair of Beckman Nets. Sorenson and Miller netted 14th
place for $300.00 plus took $1,000.00 cash from the doubled Big Fish cash
pot, which failed to go out at Lake Lida last month.
Second place Big Fish
for the event went to Dave Andersen and Jeff Solum from Amery, WI and
Alexandria for a 5.80 lb'r worth $500.00 cash. Andersen and Solum also
placed 4th for an additional $1,000.00 check. They caught
their fish in 14’ of water off of Pelican Point on Lindy rigs tipped with
leeches. The big one was in the boat by 7:30am.
